Mercurial amalgamator.



APPLIGATION FILED DEC. 4, 1903 MERGURIAL AMALGAMATOR,

INVENTOR.

BzzrZow BaZdwz7i BY A44 m @711 TTORNEY.

- WITNESSES:

No. 823,577. P'ATENTBD JUNE 19, 1906.. B. BALDWIN.

' MERGURIA-L AMALGAMATOR.

APPLIOATION PILED DEGni, 1903 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

. WITNESSES! INVENTOR.

f g 6 a L Barlow Baldwin A TTORNE Y.

ANDREW. B. Gin M4 ca, PnoTmumuakAPuzas. WASRINGYON, u. c.

PATENTED JUNE 19, 1906.

B. BALDWIN.

MEROURIAL AMALGAMATOR.

. APPLICATION FILED DEUML, 1903 3 SHIFETS-SHBET 3.

WITNESSES:

1 INVENTOR. .BarZow Baldwin B) 4 z i ATTORNE).

To aZZ whom it may concern: I

. STATES PATENT:

BARLOW BALDWIN, or onroAco, ILLINOIS, Assrcuon, Y manor D FoUR-rENTHS T ERW LD S ,IrIl-NTON AND M'ESNE ASSIGNMENTS, OF

TWO-TENTHS TO GEORGEA- H MLIN, oroin eeo. lLLLN lS 'MERCURIAL MA GAM TQR- Application filed December l, 1903. Serial No. 183,727"- Be it knownthat I, BARLow-BALDwIN, a citizen of the United States, residing-at Chi cago, in! the county of Cook and StateofIllinois,have invented a new and useful -MercurialAmalgamator, whereof the following is a specification.

My invention relatesto that class of mercurialamalgamators which are primarily designed for extracting gold from auriferous earth, sand, or gravel without the use ofwater; and it has for its object the production of a machine that-will be capable of forcing the. auriferous material into andthrough'a bath of mercury in such manner'that the gol'd will be permitted to amalgamate-with the mercury, while thewaste material is float edqanjd discharged from'the surface of the mercury, whereby I the, eompletest possible extraction of the gold will be accomplished by the most economical-means.

In the accompanying drawings,- forminga part. of this specification,'Figure l isa side elevation of the: machine. Fig. 2' is a viewv showing thesame partly in longitudinal ver ticalsectionand partly inelevation. Fig. 3 isa sectionalview'and end elevation on the line 3- 3 of Fig. 1, and Fig.4 is asec'tion-on' the line l 4 of'Fig.=3.

Like-referenoe-numerals indicate like parts in all of the figures. p

Y is the base of the-machine, provided with uprights 11 11, which support a receptacle 12, into which the auriferous material is introduced through a funnel-like chute 13; The inner orifice of the chute 13 opens intoa tubular screen 14, that is somewhat inclined from the horizontal 1 and is secured to a rotaryninclined shaft 15, which passes through and forms the axis of said screen and is journaled in the end' walls of the receptacle 12. llhe said shaft 15 is rotated by the crank 16, and the resultant'rotation of the screen 14 causes thefiner material to sift through said screen and into the tray 17 ,while the coarser wasteis' gradually advanced to and ejected from the lower end of therotatingscreeninto the waste-discharge 18. The lower part of the tray 17, into which the sifted auriferous material-falls, is. provided .with ascrewi a veyer 1 9 having the pulley 20 secured to one of its ends and-actuated by the belt 2l,passing over the pulley 22, that is secured tothe crank-shaft 15 aforesaid. The rotation of the screw conveyer' 1 9 forces theisif-ted auriferous materialforward and outithroughthe spout 23 into the secondary 1hopper?bottomed receptacle 24, p and the latter is provided at its lower part with a second screw conveyer 25 ,secured to the shaft 2-6, actuated bythebevel-gears 2-7 27, connecting itvwith thecrank-shaft 1-5. 'This second screw con- ;veyer'25 by its rotation forces theauriferous material into and out through-- the spout. of

the hopper bottomed receptacle 2l' 'intothe lower portion of themercury tank 28,;an'd

the material so forced out into-the said; is distributed and spread out therethrough by the rotary paddle 29, secured to.- the extreme lower endof the shaft 2.6ibelowthe bottom orifice of thereceptacle-24. When'" the auriferous material i is thus distributedthrough; the mercury-tank 2 8,th'c ,gold is taken up byan'd forms an amalgam-witlithe mercury, while the waste material floats? to heaped up thereon until the accumulati'oii' becomes sufficiently. great to overflow therim of the mercury-tank andfallupon} the tatermediate pivoted le-ver 33. and link34, to the stud on the pulley' 20. vThe; urposc f;

the vibration of this pan; or tab e; is toshake off any superfluous. accumulation offlie waste material and present to'the operator at film of said waste material of such-relativethinness as to enable'himto readily deter mine by casual inspection-whether the aurif erous material is being" forced, through the mercury at so rapid a rate as to cause. gr ntlation of the mercury and its adhesion to par:

ticles of the waste material fioated'upthr'ouglr' it and thrown over the rim-of the bath. (The the surface of the mercury and=becornes ble-or pan 30. This tableor pan is movablyfso Eshelf 31 ,supporting -the mer'curyaank, is ad j usted, by means of the set-screws 36 37 37, so as to allow the entire removal of the tank when it becomes desirable to retort the amalgam for the purpose of precipitating the gold.

By the foregoing mechanism and process it becomes possible to present even the finest particles of the gold contained in an auriferous mixture to the amalgamating action of the mercury without any loss at all comparable to that necessarily incident upon the mercurial amalgamator processes heretofore practiced that consist, essentially, in blowing or scattering the auriferous mixture over the surface of mercury-baths or plates silvered with 'fi mercury instead of forcing the entire bulk of the material to gradually pass through the mercury in such manner that the waste material is extracted by mere flotation. When the entire mass of the auriferous material is thus forced into the bottom of a bath of mercury, no part of that material can come to the surface except by flotation, and if the material is thus gradually forced into and distributed through the bottom of the bath practically all of the contained particles of gold will be presented to the amalgamating action of the mercury, and no considerable part of the mercury will be granulated and carried to the surface of the bath by the flotation of the waste. The distribution at the bottom of the bath is effected by a nearly plane or slightly paddle-form rotary distributer so shaped that it may spread the material out over the bottom of the tank with the least possible stirring or agitative effect upon the mercury, any such stirring or agitation having a tendency to cause sufiicient granulation of the mercury to wholly defeat the practicability of the process and it being essential that the distribution of the material should consist merely in spreading it out as thinly as possible over the bottom of the tank without attempting to stir it into or otherwise force it into mechanical mixture with the mercury, and the mechanism here provided for forcing the auriferous material into the mercury is of such character that the use of water is dispensed with, and yet material of very various character and consistency, whether finely pulverized or coarsely granular, is worked Without stoppage or clogging of the conveyer that forces it into the amalgamating-tank.

This process makes possible the operation of deposits of auriferous earth and sand in regions where water is unobtainable, and the simplicity of the mechanism makes it readily transportable and capable of being set up and operated by the most unskilled labor.

My invention as hereinabove set forth is embodied in certain particular and preferable forms of construction; but I do not limit myself to such special forms or to less than all the possible forms in which the invention as hereinafter claimed may be embodied.

I now claim- 1. In a mercurial amalgamator, in co1nbination, a tank for the mercury, a hopper for dry auriferous material, a spout extending from said hopper into said tank, and a conveyer adapted to drive the aforesaid material into and through said spout without clogging thereof, and a nearly plane horizontal distributer adapted to spread said material over the bottom of said tank without agitative stirring of the mercury, substantially as speci- 2. In a mercurial amalgamator, in combination, a tank for the mercury, a hopper for dry auriferous material, a spout extending from said hopper into said tank, and a screw conveyer adapted to drive the aforesaid material into and through said spout without clogging thereof, and a nearly plane horizontal distributer adapted to spread said material over the bottom of said tank without agitative stirring of the mercury, substantially as specified.

3. In a mercurial amalgamator, in combination, a tank for the mercury, a hopper for dry auriferous material, a spout extending from said hopper into said tank, a conveyer adapted to drive the aforesaid material into and through said spout without clogging thereof, and a nearly plane horizontal paddle adapted to spread. said material over the bottom of said tank without agitative stirring of the mercury, substantially as specified.

4. In a mercurial amalgamator, in combination, a tank for the mercury, a hopper for dry auriferous material, a spout extending from said hopper into said tank, a screw conveyer adapted to drive the aforesaid material into and through said spout without clogging thereof, and a nearly plane horizontal paddle adapted to spread said material over the bottom of said tank without agitative stirring of the mercury, substantially as specified.

5. In a mercurial amalgamator, in combination, a tank for the mercury, a hopper for dry auriferous material, a spout extending from said hopper into said tank, and a conveyer extending through said hopper and said spout and adapted to drive the aforesaid material out of the said hopper and into and through said spout without clogging thereof, and a nearly plane horizontal distributer adapted to spread said material over the bot tom of said tank without agitative stirring of the mercury, substantially as specified.

6. In a mercurial amalgamator, in combination, a tank for the mercury, a hopper for dry auriferous material, a spout extending from said hopper into said tank,'and a screw oonye'ye'r extending through said hopper and I In testimony whereof I have hereunto set said spout and. adapted to drive the aforesaid my hand in the presence of two subscribing 7 :0 material out of the said hopper and into and Witnesses.

through said spout Without clogging thereof, I

and a nearly plane horizontal distributer BABLOW BALDWIN v adapted to spread said material over the bot- Witnesses: I

tom of said tank without agitative stirring of ERWALD STUART HINTON,

the mercury, substantially as specified. CHAS. 0. Ross. 

